From Natalie,

Okay, I am in the same debt situation as everyone else, and I have done alot of research too. And from what I can see you most likely not be found in contempt of court for a simple creditor issue.

I have been researching this for months, and came across some very good websites. To begin with NEVER forget you have rights. There is some thing know as the Fair debt collection practices act. This regulates how the collection agencies are allowed to collect on you. NO they are not allowed to call neighbors, family and friends, IF they have a valid way to get in touch with you. They are not allowed to tell or talk to anyone about your debt. They are not allowed to call before 8:00 am or after 8:00 pm, and can not call you at work if you tell them not too. Also, if you tell them not to contact you at all about the debt, they can only contact you in writing. They can not threaten you with jail. They can not threaten you with court if they know they will never sue you. If they break any of these laws, you can legally sue them.

I came across a website where a police officer pretty much explained the procedures. He said that a summons is a form letter, and everyone gets the same one- even him, and they all say failure to appear could lead to contempt of court. BUT, he also said that it is EXTREMELY rare in a basic creditor\debtor cases. Contempt of court is usually reserved for criminal matters.
Having said that it is also not as simple as they put a judgement against you, with a payment plan in place. I have done alot of research here, and I am in a debt settlement program and have had it explained to me by professionals extensively:

Step ONE- They (creditor) attempts to sue you in court, and this process usually takes along time to get to this point. It takes alot of money and resourses for them to sue you, so they usually dont unless they know it will be profitable. Also, with all the debt in this country it will mostlikely take a long time to get a court date. So, we are not talking about 1-2-3 here. If you dont show up to court worst case scenario is they put a default judgement against you. You DO NOT get a contempt of court for this. UNLESS, some kind of criminal charges went along with this. NO MONETARY JUDGEMENT IS ENTERED- JUST THE FACT THAT OWE THE MONEY.

Step TWO- This is where you will a get another order to appear for discovery. This is a grey area. I have read that most likely if you miss this you will not go to jail for contempt, but under certain circumstances that is possible. Either way, this is the time they will obtain a monetary judgement if any. Now, just because you have a judgement against you doesnt mean they will be able to collect from you. For instance in Florida if you are deemed head of household- meaning you are responsible for 50% or more of a dependants needs then 100% of your salary is safe from garnishment. And if those wages are deposited in a bank account they are safe for 6 months from a bank freeze.

There are alot of differentials in all this- state, properties, ect. PLUS federal laws state that either the states maximum, or the federals maximum of 25% - which ever is SMALLER- ONLY can be taken out of anyones wages, and there is a formula to it. And if there is more than one creditor, all garnishments together can not exceed 25%. There is also special circumstances if you are paying alimony, child support, student loans- where the cost of the payment- plus the cost of the garnishment can not together exceed 25%. Plus, if you collect any kind of Retirement pensions (my husband does) SSI, unemployment, (there are alot of others) these funds are all exempt from wage garnishments and bank freezes. People can actually be found to be judgement proof. All with out having to claim bankruptcy. Plus, there is a FEDERAL minimum that if you make below it your wages cannot be garnished. So, the judge can declare you owe the money, but that there is no way for anyone to collect on it.

Also, remember with all this you cant go to jail for failure to pay. So, it doesnt make much sense that the Judge just issues a payment amount on the first round, and if you dont pay you are in contempt of court, arrested and jailed.- Because that would mean you are being jailed for not being able to pay your debts.

I recently sent a validation notice to an attorney's office attempting to collect a debt. Well, the 30 days had passed and I received no word from them, until now, in which they have apparently sold the debt off to yet another debt collection agency. Is this common, and can I still hold the original collector accountable for not satisfying the validation, and yet reporting it to the credit bureaus?

i have several credit cards i owe on with total amount about 12,000 but now with all interest charged, probably closer to 15,000. i had cards with circuit city - bought new computer and they gave me a card - was just going to make payments; sears, target, walmart, bank of america, capital one, chase and washington mutual - i still have a small one with chase that i am paying on but its only 200 limit - the reason i could not pay is that my husband tho separated sent me money every month to pay on cards and then he got sick a year ago and had to go into nursing home and my rent went up twice - i am 70 and on soc sec and i emailed a bankruptcy lawyer and he said since my only income is soc sec they cant take that - and just to ignore letters and phone calls - i have voice mail so only listen to personal messages - but they still send me letters in mail and lawyer said do not answer them so i dont - would someone still show up to take me to court to pay - and another thing he told me is that they cannot take personal stuff and that you are allowed to keep up to 10 or 15,000 dollars worth of personal stuff - i was worried they might try and take stuff i had gotten on credit cards - the original computer i got at circuit city is now 5 years old and i feel i did pay it off as i paid 100 a month on that credit card tho i had gotten other stuff too over the years - i read on website about secure and unsecure credit cards - feel mine are unsecure but not sure of terminalogy on that respect - when husband first got sick and could not send me money anymore i tried to explain to credit card companies but they didnt care - they said i had this debt and i am liable for it -

any comments - just dont want to have to go to court and pay costs for that

Hey Jan,

Well I'm glad your computer still works so we could talk here, even though it's five years old. First off - I'm sorry you've found yourself in this situation. I know how it feels to have people calling when you owe them money. It's not a pleasant time for you, I can imagine. Now in regards to your situation I will give you my opinion based on everything I've learned. You are actually in a good position depending on how you care to look at it. Yes you technically owe this money on the credit cards. Now your creditor/collection agency could actually take you to civil court, but they probably won't. It would be a complete waste of money and time for them - and your debt isn't that much. Even if they filed a suit against you in civil court for the amount of money you owe them, and even won a judgment against you, they couldn't collect it. No court is going to take your social security to pay for some credit card debt. I don't see how you could end up having to pay any court costs or other fees. I would just continue over the months and years to ignore their calls and letters.

Now if they take you to civil court they will do so in your town or county. If this happens go to court and explain to the judge your personal circumstances. That would officially be the end of this issue. No judge is going to force a social security recipient to pay on old credit card debt. Besides it's against federal law I think. Also, I wouldn't worry about the stuff you've bought, at this point its yours and they don't want it anyway. Banks aren't interested in trying to sort through and sell a small amount of used merchandise. So based on what you've told me I would follow the advice of the lawyer. Just ignore them and if it does go to civil court (which I seriously doubt) they'll just find out that they can't collect it. It won't cost you a dime. Now the only time I would consider responding to them is if you receive a summons from the court about an upcoming court date regarding this debt. If that occurs I would write the collection agency a letter stating that you have no income and no assets and you'll be informing the court of the same. I would then contact the court ahead of the court date and talk to them about your specific case to try and avoid it altogether - after all you'd only be doing everyone a favor. Now the only exception to what I have said would be if you have assets (like land or homes) which you could sell to satisfy this debt. I'm not talking about a garage sale here on old computers and clothes. I'm talking about big items that would bring in thousands of dollars. If you don't have any then you have nothing to worry about. Your debt is dead in the water.

Well Jan, hope you have a great Sunday evening and I'm wishing you the very best from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Take care!

i have a friend who works part time and had to go to court and is now paying a debt - recently in may she got injured on the job so is on disability now and i told her she shd not have to pay anything towards debt while she is on disability - she is not online so i cant send website to her - also wondered what the federal minimum is that people dont have to pay for debt - she works 20 hrs a week and makes about 900 a month or less - we both live in calif

tks

Hey Jan,

you can also take a look at this site... http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/collection_agencies10.htm